News

'Facebook nurse' facing tribunal

A FORMER Basildon Hospital paediatric nurse who allegedly accessed Facebook when she should have been dealing with a critically ill child could be struck off.

Titilola Orefuwa, a former head nurse in the hospital’s children’s unit, is accused of a string of professional failings over a four-year period by the Nursing and Midwifery Council.

Orefuwa, who could be removed from the nursing register if found guilty, is accused of accessing Facebook in January 2010 while there was a child of “high dependency” on the ward.

She is also accused of leaving an operating theatre while a sensitive operation on the spine was carried out and failing to catch the resulting drip specimen in May 2007.

In the same year, she is accused of leaving a sedated child without medical supervision as he was transferred for an MRI scan, in breach of medical guidance.

It is also alleged, in June 2008, Orefuwa refused the request of senior nursing staff to transfer to another ward, swearing at them in the process.

A hospital spokeswoman said: “It would be inappropriate for us to comment ahead of the hearing, although we can confirm this individual no longer works at Basildon Hospital.”

The seven-day fitness to practice hearing, which begins on Monday, in London, will hear other allegations against her, including giving medication to a patient which had not been prescribed and telling the child’s parents to give them insulin through a syringe, when they were not trained to do so.

The hearing will also hear claims that while suspended from giving out medication, she gave intravenous medication to one child and insulin to another and then recorded details incorrectly.

Other allegations include:

* Recording the wrong penicillin dosage frequencies for a patient

* Failing to set up feeding tubes properly and respond to an alarm during a child’s care, or give adequate details of care to colleagues.

* Failing to give medication to a patient, adequately check their temperature, keep adequate records and put the patient on restricted fluids after being instructed by a doctor.

Comments (3)

How on earth did she manage to get away with this for so long and still carry on being a nurse?!

That is absolutely disgusting IF found to be true.

I hope she is struck off and not even allowed to be a pharmacy attendant stacking shelves!

How on earth did she manage to get away with this for so long and still carry on being a nurse?!
That is absolutely disgusting IF found to be true.
I hope she is struck off and not even allowed to be a pharmacy attendant stacking shelves!I-say-you-say

this hearing proberly took 2 years to get to this stage the chances are she stopped working there some time ago, and by the asking her to transfer to different wards and her swearing it would not suprise me if their was some form of internal bulling going on possiably from top down not everything as how you read it in the press every story has 2 sides

this hearing proberly took 2 years to get to this stage the chances are she stopped working there some time ago, and by the asking her to transfer to different wards and her swearing it would not suprise me if their was some form of internal bulling going on possiably from top down not everything as how you read it in the press every story has 2 sidesd_2da_ougle

Tip of the iceberg. She probably got away with it for so long becasue the hospital were terrified of having a case of race discrimination brought against them. How many more highly trained, dedicated nurses like her are working at Basildon's pot luck medical chop shop.

Tip of the iceberg. She probably got away with it for so long becasue the hospital were terrified of having a case of race discrimination brought against them. How many more highly trained, dedicated nurses like her are working at Basildon's pot luck medical chop shop.ebagumtrebor